CBI: Universities should teach basic skills

Universities should teach students about the world of work because many lack the ability to "get up in the morning", according to business leaders.

By Graeme Paton, Education Editor

3:06PM BST 17 Sep 2008

Some have already launched courses to drill undergraduates in skills needed in the workplace, such as team-building, writing CVs and impressing in interviews.

Liverpool John Moores University is one of the first to offer all students the chance to gain one of the new skills certificates.

But the Confederation of British Industry insisted courses should be offered at other universities amid fears many graduates are unable to communicate or get into work on time.

In the last 10 years, the number of graduates has soared. Ministers eventually want half of all school-leavers to go on to higher education.

But Susan Anderson, the CBI's head of education, said: "There is dissatisfaction with soft skills, communication skills, self-management and language. They are skills we expect every graduate to have but there are problems."

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She was speaking as a new CBI higher education task force was launched in London.

The group - a delegation of 19 organisations, including McDonald's, the Royal Bank of Scotland and Microsoft - is intended to influence universities' policy in the UK.

Setting out the group's remit, Richard Lambert, CBI director-general, insisted that a "strong" higher education sector was vital to the British economy.

But he insisted key weaknesses persisted.

He highlighted the failure to produce enough science, engineering and mathematics graduates.

Universities are also underfunded compared to those in other countries, with Mr Lambert suggesting that more taxpayers' money should be put into higher education.

In a further conclusion, he said some institutions were failing to produce graduates fit for the world of work.

"One of the great pluses of our universities is that we have a strong and diverse system. Some want to make your brain hurt and in others there is a specific focus on skills," he said. "We think that soft skills are an important part of education, not necessarily for everybody, but most people need to be able to get up in the morning."

John Moores has become the first university to put on a World of Work course, with others expected to follow.

But Rick Trainor, the president of Universities UK, denied that institutions were downgrading traditional subjects.

"I don't see a fundamental conflict between pursuing subjects of study rigorously and helping prepare people for employment," he said.